Liquid-cooled gas burner



Nov. 19, 1968 J. H. FLYNN 3,411,717

LIQUID-COOLED GAS BURNER Filed July 1, 1966 INVENTOR JO/ZU H Fl W727 United States Patent 3,411,717 LIQUID-COOLED GAS BURNER John H. Flynn, 234 Elk Ave., New Rochelle, N.Y. 10804 Filed July 1, 1966, Ser. No. 562,271 3 Claims. (Cl. 239132.3)

ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A burner casing with grooving in its outer wall for removable reception of tubing for coolant passage therethrough, with the tubing being releasably locked in the grooving.

This invention relates to gas burners in general, and to liquid-cooled gas burners in particular.

The type of burner with which the present invention is concerned is used primarily in industrial applications and has operating flames of high heat output. Such a burner has a usually elongated burner casing with main and pilot flame ports and an internal chamber which is supplied with a combustible air-gas mixture for :feeding the flame ports to maintain the flames thereat, with the pilot flames supporting the main flames for their uninterrupted ignition at higher velocities. Owing to the usual high heat output of the main flames, the burner becomes excessively heated, especially in prolonged burner operation, with attendant adverse effects on the burner and its performance. Accordingly, in order to avoid such excessive heating of the burner, recourse has been had to cool the same with a liquid medium, usually water. To this end, water circulation through passages Within the burner casing, usually in the form of tubes cast directly in the casing, has been resorted to. However, while this mode of burner cooling is effective for some time, its cooling effect will inevitably deteriorate without afiording any opportunity to restore it to a satisfactory level, for hard deposits from the water will settle in these tubes and clog the same more and more, with neither the deposits in these cast-in tubes nor the tubes themselves being removable. Under the circumstances, costly replacement in time of at least the burner casing, but usually of the entire burner, will afford the only remedy.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a burner of this type with a water-cooling system which will effectively cool the burner indefinitely without ever requiring replacement of any of the burner components proper, including the burner casing, yet its cost will be incomparably less than that of the previous cast-in tube system at its most effective burner cooling for the same indefinite length of time.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a burner of this type with a water-cooling system which cools the burner even more effectively than the previous cast-in tube system.

- It is a further object of the present invention to provide a burner of this type of which the aforementioned water-cooling system is formed by tubing which is applied to the burner casing externally thereof, yet is in as intimate heat-exchange relation with the casing as previous cast-in tubing, whereby the heat in the burner from the flames is drawn toward the outside of the casing for optimum dissipation there not only in the circulating water in the tubing but also in the surrounding atmosphere.

Another object of-the present invention is to provide a burner of this type with a water-cooling system of the aforementioned tubing which for optimum heat-exchange with the burner casing is embedded therein, yet is arranged externally of the casing as aforementioned, by installing the tubing in a passage with which it is in substantial form-fit throughout and which is formed by complemental grooves in the outer casing surface and in retainer plates, respectively, of which the retainer plates serve firmly to clamp the tubing to the casing and, hence, also to the complemental grooves, and thus become for all practical purposes parts of the casing. While this arrangement affords the desired effective cooling of the burner, it affords still other important advantages. Thus, round tubing of minimum cost may advantageously be received in semi-cylindrical grooves in the casing and retainer plates, whereby the assembly of the cooling system with the burner is not only exceedingly simple but, even more important, permits ready disassembly of the same from the burner for equally ready and advisable low-cost replacement of tubing of even moderately deteriorated heat-exchange capacity. Also, in distinct contrast to previous cast-in tubing, the present clamped-in tubing may be selected for best heat conductivity at a low cost and without any regard whatsoever to its melting point or coefficient of expansion. Further, the present clamped-in tubing may be kept largely straight :for relatively ready access to a snake-like tool with which to remove some deposits therein before they accumulate too heavily or attack the tube wall.

It is another object of the present invention to provide for a burner of this type a water-cooling system of the aforementioned clamped-in tubing which lends itself with particular case and savings in cost to installation in burner casings of any length with sectional end-to-end joined burner casings, by extending the same tubing of adequate length along all burner casings and simply passing it uninterruptedly around the usual endflanges of the joined burner casings. With this arrangement, a few fittings at the very most are required for the cooling system, and the tubing may in a single operation be installed in the burner casings after the latter are joined and otherwise assembled.

Further objects and advantages will appear to those skilled in the art from the following, considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

In the accompanying drawings, in which certain modes of carrying out the present invention are shown for illustrative purposes:

FIG. 1 is a side view, partly broken away, of a burner installation embodying the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a top view, also partly broken away, of the same burner installation; and

FIG. 3 is an enlarged section through the same burner installation as taken on the line 33 of FIG. 2.

Referring to the drawings, the reference numeral 10 designates a gas burner installation having a longitudinal burner casing 12 with an internal chamber.14 and burner grooves 16 and .18 which are in communication with the chamber 14 and open at the flame surface 20 of the casing, with the grooves 1-8 flanking the groove 16 on opposite sides and being in communication with the chamber 14 in this instance through intermediation of restricted ducts 22 that are spaced from each other longitudinally of the casing. The groove 16 is in this instance formed by spaced parallel plates 24 which are received in machined recesses 26 in the casing and retained therein against out- Ward removal by the heads of screws 28. Inserted and suitably clarnped in the burner grooves 16 and 18 are burner ribbon assemblies 30 and 32 which define a multitude of main and pilot flame ports 34 and 36, respectively. The chamber 14 in the casing 12 is through a conduit 38 supplied with a combustible air-gas mixture for feeding the flame ports 34 and 36 to maintain thereat main and pilot flames, respectively, of which the pilot flames sustain the main flames in ignition. Owing to the high heat output capacity of the burner flames, the casing 12 Will become excessively heated, especially at prolonged burner opera- 3 tion, with attendant adverse effects on the burner and its performance. Therefore, in order to avoid such excessive heating of the burner and the attendant adverse effects on the same, the burner is provided with a cooling system, and more particularly with a liquid cooling system 40.

The cooling system 40 provides tubing 42 which is arranged in intimate heat-exchange relation with the burner casing over most of its length and through which a cooling liquid, preferably water W, is circulated. For most effective and even cooling of the burner casing 12, the heat-exchange tubing 42 is provided on both sides of the flame surface 20 of the casing in the form of separate tubes 44. Each of these tubes 4 consists in this instance of two parallel longitudinal sections 46 and 48 with an inlet 49 and outlet 50 at one end and a reverse section 52 at the other end.

In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, the tubes 44 are arranged externally of the burner casing 12 for ready removability and replacement, yet are in as intimate heat-exchange relation with the casing as previously used cast-in tubing. To this end, the outer wall 54 of the burner casing 12 is provided with longitudinal grooves 56 in which the tubes 44 are received over most of their longitudinal extent, and these tubes 44 are by plates 58 and screws 60 clamped to the casing 12 and thereby retained in the respective grooves 56. Further, the grooves 56 in the casing wall 54, which are preferably and advantageously formed by simple machining, are of a cross-section to be in substantial formlit with part of the periphery of the tubes 44, with the retainer plates 58 being also provided with preferably machined grooves 62 which are complemental to the grooves 56 in the casing wall 54 and are in substantial fonm-flt with the remaining periphery of the tubes 44 (FIG. 3). Thus, with the tubes 44 being preferably round, the grooves -6 and 62 in the casing 12 and in the retainer plates 58 are substantially semi-circular in cross-section as shown in FIG. 3. The inlet and outlet ends 49 and 50 of the tubes 44 are in this instance connected with water inlet and outlet conduits 64 and 66 through suitable fittings 63 which at 70 are mounted on the opposite sides of the casing, while the reverse sections 52 of these tubes 44 are in this instance formed by separate fittings 72 which at 74 are also mounted on the opposite sides of the casing. Each of the tubes 44 thus consists in this instance of a fitting 72 and two long tube sections 46 and 48 (which are mounted on the casing in preferred parallelism with each other and by far the greater lengths of which are in substantial form-fit with the grooves 56 and 62 in the casing wall 5 4 and in the retainer plates 58 for most effective heat-exchange relation with the casing. In order to con-fine the burner flames mostly to the longitudinal extent of the burner casing 12 which is most effectively cooled by circulating water in the tubes 44, the burner grooves 16, 1'8 and burner ribbons 30 and 32 therein are covered by flame stop-off bars or plates 76 and 78 which extend over the endlengths of the burner casing beyond the effective cooling region of the tubes 44.

The burner installation is in the present example of multi-burner arrangement involving a plurality of burner casings or casing sections 80, which are joined end-toend to form a single burner unit. In the present instance, the burner unit comprises two identical casing sections 80 of which each section has opposite end flanges 82 and 84. These casing sections 80 are at their adjacent end flanges 84 bolted together as at 86, and their respective internal chambers and burner grooves 16, 1 8 are continuous with each other and closed at the opposite ends of the burner 'unit by covers 88 at the other end flanges 82 of the casing sections. The tubes 44 extend preferably and advantageously uninterruptedly along both casing sections 80, with relatively short lengths of these tubes being led past the joined end flanges 84 of the casing sections in arc-like formations 90 (FIG. 2) between the separate grooves 56 in the casing sections with which the tubes are in fonm-cfit.

The present burner cooling system 40 secures several significant advantages. Thus, by arranging the heat-exchange tubing externally of the burner casing, yet have it for all practical purposes embedded therein in as intimate heat-exchange relation therewith as cast-in tubing as explained, the heat in the burner from the flames is drawn toward the outside of the burner casing for optimum dissipation there not only in the circulating water in the tubing but also in the surrounding atmosphere. Cooling of the burner by the present system is thus particularly effective. Further, the present cooling system permits as ready assembly with the burner as it permits ready disassembly therefrom for equally ready and fully advisable low-cost replacement of tubing of even moderately deteriorated heat-exchange capacity. Also, the present clamped-in tubing may be selected for best heat conductivity at a low cost and without any regard to its melting point or coeflicient of expansion. Further, the present clamped-in tubing may be 'kept langely straight for relatively ready access to a snake-like tool with which to remove some deposits therein before they accumulate too heavily or attack the tube wall. Also, the present cooling system may be provided on single or multi-burner units at particularly low cost.

The invention may be carried out in other specific ways than those herein set forth without departing from the spirit and essential characteristics of the invention, and the present embodiments are, therefore, to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive, and all changes coming within the meaning and equivalency range of the appended claims are intended to be embraced therein.

What is claimed is:

1. In a gas burner installation, the combination of a plurality of longitudinal burner casings joined endto-end, with each casing having an outer peripheral wall with longitudinal grooving therein, and an internal chamber and flame ports communicating with said chamber; tubing for the passage of a cooling fluid; and a mount for said tubing in heat-exchange relation with said casings, including said grooving in said casing walls in which said tubing is received for lateral removability therefrom and in form-fit with part of the periphery of said tubing, and plates releasably clamped to said outer casing walls and having grooving in form-fit with substantially the remaining part of the periphery of said tubing to lock the latter against removal from said grooving in said casing walls, and said tubing extending uninterruptedly past the joined ends of said casings.

2. The combination in a gas burner installation as in claim 1, in which said casings have a substantially continuous outer flame surface to which said flame ports lead, and said grooving in said casing walls, said tubing and said plates are arranged on opposite sides of said flame surface.

3. The combination in a gas burner installation as in claim 2, in which said casings have outward end flanges by which they are joined, and said tubing on either side of said flame surface extends uninterruptedly and arclike past the joined end flanges of said casings.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,390,423 9/1921 Berg 239-132.3 2,536,609 1/1951 Kemp et al 158l05 2,840,149 6/1958 Arnold 239132.3

STANLEY H. TOLLBERG, Primary Examiner. 

